My brother and I attempted the Quetico Endurance Canoe race this summer. Going into it we knew we had no chance of being competitive as some of the best endurance teams in the world were showing up. Our only plan was to stay ahead of the cutoffs and really enjoy the beauty of Quetico Provincial Park. We were doing well for most of the first day, but unfortunately we had a small navigational error that blew 30 minutes and a waist deep, shoe sucking mud incident that cost ~15 minutes of wallowing shoe retrieval. We missed the cut off at the 75K mark by ~20 minutes and had to camp their. The next day we paddled back out of the park at a steady, but slightly slower pace (we wanted to get out before night fall).

The park is amazingly beautiful, remote, rugged, and wild. No motors, very few people, wildlife everywhere, and many miles of crystal clear lakes. The owner of the B&B we stayed at before and after the race was blown away by how far we managed to make it. He's paddled those lakes for ~40 years and hasn't managed to make it to a few of the lakes we traversed. I can hardly wait to go back!

Here's my brother looking a bit worn on day 2.